A value of building families

Adoption can benefit parents, children

Published: Wednesday, December 1, 2004 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 at 11:00 p.m.

Families come in all shapes, sizes, colors and nationalities. Sometimes those factors can vary within a single family. A number of families who have opened their homes and hearts to adopt children have shared their family histories through a series of stories written by Lisa Rogers.

Whether they are parents who have adopted children of various races and ages, or parents who adopted sets of siblings who needed homes through the Department of Human Resources, or parents who traveled across the globe to give a foreign-born child a home in the United States, all spoke of the rewards of having the opportunity to bring a "child of the heart" into their homes.

They speak of their adopted children as parents do the children they conceive themselves - as blessings, perhaps even as miracles.

Another part of the story of adoption is the blessing, perhaps even the miracle, that these adoptive parents can be in the lives of their children.

Children adopted from Russia, China and other countries are often taken from orphanages where conditions can sometimes be deplorable. Poverty or laws regarding the number of children a family can rear lead to abandoned babies in these countries and leaves them with uncertain or bleak prospects for their futures.

In most cases, there is some sad circumstance behind an adoption, whether it is a foreign-born baby whose parents cannot care for their child or a child adopted through the Department of Human Resources. Often those children have been removed from a home because of neglect or other negative circumstances. If those circumstances cannot be corrected, the state must seek a new safe home for the children in question.

Adoption can take children in state custody from what is sometimes the uncertainty of the foster care system and provide the children with a permanent home and the kind of stability children need.

Adoption can give those unable to have their own children the addition they desire to their families, or allow them to expand their family trees.

Adoption can also give children born into difficult situations something that every child needs to have - a loving family that can - and desperately wants to - provide him or her with a home.

<p>Families come in all shapes, sizes, colors and nationalities. Sometimes those factors can vary within a single family. A number of families who have opened their homes and hearts to adopt children have shared their family histories through a series of stories written by Lisa Rogers.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Whether they are parents who have adopted children of various races and ages, or parents who adopted sets of siblings who needed homes through the Department of Human Resources, or parents who traveled across the globe to give a foreign-born child a home in the United States, all spoke of the rewards of having the opportunity to bring a "child of the heart" into their homes.</p><p>They speak of their adopted children as parents do the children they conceive themselves - as blessings, perhaps even as miracles.</p><p>Another part of the story of adoption is the blessing, perhaps even the miracle, that these adoptive parents can be in the lives of their children.</p><p>Children adopted from Russia, China and other countries are often taken from orphanages where conditions can sometimes be deplorable. Poverty or laws regarding the number of children a family can rear lead to abandoned babies in these countries and leaves them with uncertain or bleak prospects for their futures.</p><p>In most cases, there is some sad circumstance behind an adoption, whether it is a foreign-born baby whose parents cannot care for their child or a child adopted through the Department of Human Resources. Often those children have been removed from a home because of neglect or other negative circumstances. If those circumstances cannot be corrected, the state must seek a new safe home for the children in question.</p><p>Adoption can take children in state custody from what is sometimes the uncertainty of the foster care system and provide the children with a permanent home and the kind of stability children need.</p><p>Adoption can give those unable to have their own children the addition they desire to their families, or allow them to expand their family trees.</p><p>Adoption can also give children born into difficult situations something that every child needs to have - a loving family that can - and desperately wants to - provide him or her with a home.</p>